


a heartbeat at my feet

by areyoumarriedriver



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 13:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyoumarriedriver/pseuds/areyoumarriedriver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You don’t save someone’s entire race and then say no to whatever gift they choose to give you at the end of it.” He shifted the large box in his arms. “It could be something cool.”</p><p>“Oh please Doctor, it’s supposed to psychically scan you and turn into whatever it thinks will please you best. You and I both know that thing is going to scan you and turn itself into the most hideous hat possible.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_a heartbeat at my feet_ **

“All I’m saying is that we couldn’t say  _no_ , River!” The Doctor strode down the street after her and she rolled her eyes in a huff. “You don’t save someone’s  _entire race_  and then say no to whatever gift they choose to give you at the end of it.” He shifted the large box in his arms. “It could be something  _cool_.”

“Oh please Doctor, it’s supposed to psychically scan you and turn into whatever it thinks will please you best. You and I  _both_  know that thing is going to scan you and turn itself into the most hideous hat possible.” She unlocked the TARDIS doors ahead of him and he walked after her, bouncing up the stairs and setting the box on the glass flooring.

“It might  _not_  be a hat! It could be a- a- new bowtie or – or – what  _pleases_  me best.” He grinned at that, his tone dropping suggestively and River laughed out loud.

“You don’t get to have two of me, Doctor.” She pointed out as she typed in coordinates and sent them into the Vortex. “You can barely handle one as it is.”

“Oh you’d probably  _like_  it.” He breathed out by her ear, standing quite close to her, his hands on her waist. She paused for a moment to contemplate it before smiling.

“Not as much as  _you_  would. And this coming from a man who brought me two of himself for my last birthday-”

“It was a  _special_  occasion.” He protested, adjusting his bowtie with a faint blush on his cheeks. “And I mean, well – I’m  _hot_.”

“Oh it was a  _very_  special occasion, sweetie. No go open your present so I can kill it and we can go to bed.” She purred, turning toward him and pressing her frame into his.

“I’m not tired.” He protested and she arched a brow at him in disbelief.

“Who said I was going to let you  _sleep_ , sweetie?” She brushed a hand over his bowtie and he grinned, rocking back on his heels for a moment. He reached for her hand suddenly, pulling her over by the box and smiling at her.

“I think you should open it.”

“But it’s yours.” She pointed out and he shook his head.

“No, it’s  _ours_  and it only imprints on the person opening it, and I think it should be  _you_ , River. Come on. Open it.”

“You just want two of  _you_  again – we can always swing by and make you a new-”

“No, no, no.  _River_.” He flapped his hands and pushed her toward the large box. “That’s for special occasions.”

“Every day is a special occasion with you, sweetie.” She spoke dryly, placing her hands on the box as he adjusted the lapels of his coat.

“Well… yeah.” He leaned over her shoulder as the box glowed against her palms before returning to its normal colour.

“Does that mean it’s finished?” She frowned and he nodded behind her.

“Must. Open it – open it!” He was all but bouncing around behind her and she rolled her eyes, pulling the box open to reveal- “A puppy!” The Doctor stared at her in shock and she looked at him with a frown.

“Why on Earth would it think I wanted a puppy?” The dog in question sat in the box, thumping his tail happily, grinning widely up at them both before standing, its front paws on the edge of the box.

“It’s  _adorable_.” The Doctor reached past her, pulling the small dog out and placing it on the floor before promptly sitting next to it. “Hello, you. Do you have a name?”

“But I didn’t want a puppy.”

“Well no, that’s my name, we can’t call you Doctor because I’m Doctor and then she’d say ‘come here Doctor’ and we’d both come running.  _Not_  that I run when she calls. Except I do, a bit. You might want to too.” River stared at him for a beat before shaking her head.

“I don’t keep animals, Doctor. I  _can’t_  have an animal – you’re more than enough to take care of as it is. The box was wrong.” She shrugged and he shook his head, reaching for her hand and hauling her down beside him on the floor. The puppy promptly crawled up into her lap and licked her chin sloppily.

“Oh he likes you!” The Doctor grinned and petted the puppy carefully. River looked down at the light brown eyes of the dog – they looked almost amber, though they were half hidden underneath a mass of shaggy brown fur, all over his body but especially in his eyes. He looked like he would be a fair sized dog, fully grown and she felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth as the puppy grinned up at her eagerly. “But seriously, we can’t call you Doctor.” The Doctor paused and the dog looked at him carefully, while River watched, bewildered. “Well it  _can’t_  just be your name.  _I’m_  the Doctor.”

“We could call him Dogtor.” River pointed out with a low laugh. “ _Not_  that we’re keeping him. We can’t! It wouldn’t work. Where would he stay?”

“With you, he says.”

“He can’t  _say_  anything, Doctor, he’s a dog.” River rolled her eyes at him and the Doctor shrugged. “You do  _not_  speak Dog.”

“I speak everything. Oh! We could get a collar with a perception filter. The guards would never even notice him!” The dog barked happily at that, licking her once more before tromping over their laps to give the Doctor a lick too. “See? He likes that.”

“And I feed him what? And where does he use the toilet? It’s a  _prison cell_  Doctor, not a doggy daycare!” The dog moved over to her lap again, curling up there and resting his head on the top of her thigh as he looked up at her with his soulful eyes. He  _was_ rather adorable. She could feel the soft rapid thump of his heart against her thigh and she felt a warm glow settle within her chest. “Why would that ridiculous box even give me a dog?”

The puppy barked and the Doctor nodded. “ _Oh_.” He looked up at River, a saddened expression on his face. “He says you needed a constant companion.” The Doctor swallowed and glanced at the floor. “A constant source of love.”

“I have that,” River scoffed and the Doctor shook his head.

“But I can’t always be with you.”

“I  _know_ that, but I still always have it.” A shadow crossed the Doctor’s face and he sighed, reaching over to pet the dog in her lap. “I don’t even  _like_  dogs.” River muttered and the Doctor laughed softly.

“You’ve been scratching his ears for the last five minutes. How do you know you don’t like dogs if you’ve never had one?” He grinned down at the puppy, who panted happily up at him in return.  “He promises he’ll be very well behaved.”

“But I –”

“Maybe we’ll just keep him here with us until he’s a bit older?” The Doctor grinned. “Just a few months.”

“A few  _months_?”

“I bet I could teach him tricks. I bet you’re a  _brilliant_  Dogtor, aren’t you? Mind – there’s the indoor Park if you have any business that needs doing got it? I’ll have the old girl move it next to our room!” The Doctor leapt up and twirled around the console, flicking switches. “There we go.” The dog bounced off her lap, and pranced over to where the Doctor stood, tripping over his own gangly legs twice on the way.

“Are you  _sure_  you didn’t regenerate into a dog and this is just a future version of you?” River laughed as she stood and the Doctor clapped.

“No! At least, I don’t  _think_  so.” He glanced down at the dog who sat clumsily and barked in delight. “Come along, Dog. A run in the park before bedtime, I think. But first we need to get you kitted out – I wonder if I have a dog-sized bowtie…”

“You are  _not_  putting a bowtie on  _my_  dog, Doctor!” The dog bounced around in delight, and looked over at her with a grin to match her husband’s.

“How else is he going to be  _cool_ , River?” The Doctor sighed and waved a hand. “Plus, he  _likes_  mine. Oh thank you, I rather like this one too. Blue’s my favourite but your Mum likes the black. Sentimental value; you know how it is. Well yes, for me too but shh. That’s a  _secret_. We need to have a serious dog to man talk about the bed to Mum space allocation, because just because you’re all floppy and adorable doesn’t mean you get to take up the largest amount of  _space_ , and that should be a rule- we should have rules I think, especially on the TARDIS.” The Doctor nattered on to the dog as he walked over to the stairs. “Rule one: don’t wander off.  _Especially_  when we go out. Even in here really – I had a robot dog once you know, he went down the wrong hall and I didn’t see him until three weeks later. He was a good dog, but you definitely have him beat in the personality department.” They’d both scrambled up the stairs as she watched and the Doctor paused. “Aren’t you coming, River?” Both of them looked at her, their heads cocked and she sighed and moved after them.

“Nights only, Doctor. I’m not sure we can stay for  _months_. What might that do to the timelines?” He took her hand as she reached the top of the stairs and the dog bounded around her happily.

“Nothing at all, what good is being a Timelord if I can’t bend my own rules every now and again?” He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her softly. “Maybe he was a gift in more ways than one, eh?” She swallowed and nodded, hugging him as the dog jumped up at their legs. “Yes, yes, Dog, we’re going, we’re going. One blue dog-sized bowtie with a perception filter, coming up!”


	2. Chapter 2

_**i’ve got flowers and lots of hours to spend with you** _

“See, I  _told_  you the trilateral transmorphic setting would work. I don’t know why you question my sonic, River, you know good and well just what it can do.” He huffed as they strode back to the TARDIS and River laughed, arching a brow.

“Of course I do sweetie. It does everything  _but_  wood.” Her gaze dropped down for a moment and this time her laugh was slower. “Well, of the  _tree_  variety anyway.”

“River!” He sounded shocked and his hands hovered over his groin as he glared at her. “Anyone could hear you and it was  _one_  time and as I recollect, you didn’t mind the discovery of those settings one bit.”

“Oh I wasn’t complaining, sweetie. In fact, I bet if you tweak the-”

“River.” He interrupted her, his voice serious and she frowned, following his gaze to where the TARDIS was parked, its doors ajar.

“I locked the door after us, sweetie, I wouldn’t have forgotten.” Her voice was hushed and her hand automatically moved to hover over the plasma gun strapped to her thigh. The Doctor slapped her hand away.

“Why are you getting into stealthy jungle cat mode? We don’t know if anyone is in there or who they are or maybe someone got  _out_.” He hissed the words by her ear and she looked at him incredulously.

“ _Stealthy jungle cat_  mode?” She repeated and he huffed, fiddling with his lapels.

“Yes, you know, you get all slow and quiet and prowly – it’s a bit sexy actually, but the point is there may be no one in there at all.” He waved at the doors and frowned. “What if he got out? What if we’ve _lost_  him? No – no he’d come back, right? I mean he has all the fish fingers he can eat and an unlimited supply of bowtie collars here, why would he run away?”

“You think the Dogtor  _unlocked_  the TARDIS doors and what? Went for a jaunt?”

“Well it’s what I’d do.” The Doctor shrugged and River looked at him in disbelief. “Well it is! And you say often enough that he’s like I regenerated into a dog-” A bark sounded from inside the TARDIS, high pitched and playful and she and the Doctor looked at one another. “Well it doesn’t sound like anything’s amiss. I mean, he’d not greet intruders happily would he?”

She lifted her brows and rolled her eyes. “Have you  _met_  your dog?”

“He’s  _your_ dog.” The Doctor huffed in protest. “He’s going back with you and you  _know_  he’s your dog because he always climbs on top of  _you_  like you’re his personal pillow every night.” He sniffed and tugged on his jacket once more before taking her hand in his, and lacing his fingers through hers. “We really ought to get him a girl dog, so he can go sleep on his dog bed with  _her_.”

“Now you want  _two_  dogs? Oh, of course.” She laughed and tugged him closer, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You daft man.” He pushed open the doors and she followed him inside, only to walk into his back as he stopped suddenly. River peeked around his shoulders to see Dog sitting in front of the stairs, grinning madly and panting, brown hair every which way and his warm eyes bright. Not unusual – though normally when they came in he all but vibrated with happiness, leaping all over them in greeting. She’d tried to train it out of him, but with the Doctor following behind her and all but flinging himself on the console flooring in order for Dog to lick him all over, it wasn’t going very well.

What  _was_  unusual was the cat sitting next to him.

“What is  _that_?” She spoke in a calm tone and the Doctor glanced over his shoulder with a scoffing expression.

“Obviously, it’s a cat.” River shot him a  _look_  and he closed his mouth.

“Thank you, dear, I understand that, why is there a cat in our TARDIS?” She spoke sweetly, looking from the Doctor to Dog.

“Well I dunno, maybe we should stop talking about her like she’s not here and ask, yeah?” The Doctor clapped and dropped to the floor while River rolled her eyes. “Hullo, you! What’s all this then?”

Dog barked in reply and the Doctor nodded. “Oh, oh – that sounds  _terrible_.” The cat sat there, completely disinterested. Her fur was long and silky, a pale golden colour and her eyes were a startling green. She was quite a pretty thing actually, but River had  _always_  disliked cats, ever since Miss Lambert’s mad cat had scratched her all over when she was seven (well.. seven  _ish_  – give or take a decade or two) and Rory had dared her to climb the fence into Miss Lambert’s yard. “Oh really? Just awful – yes, well no – she’s cleaned up quite nicely I think. Oh did the TARDIS help? She’s good for that, isn’t she?”

“Doctor?” River finally sighed. She had no idea if her husband could  _actually_  talk to their dog or not, but he certainly seemed to think he could, so she indulged him.

“Oh River, it’s so sad. She was being attacked by several other cat clans – apparently this planet has a feline issue – over breeding – cats run wild in groups called clans, but there’s rivalry of course – for territory you know. Regardless her entire clan was killed in an attack, and she was just about done for but Dog heard her so he opened the door, went outside and rescued her. Wasn’t that  _brave_  of him? What a good boy!” The Doctor rubbed Dog’s head enthusiastically, messing his already unmanageable mane up even more.

“And he took her back here?” River asked in a slow tone. “For….?”

“Oh to clean her up and the TARDIS provided nanogens to heal her up. Isn’t she a pretty kitty?” He spoke to the cat in question, and she cautiously stalked over, rubbing herself along the Doctor’s thigh as he scratched along her back. “Do you have a name, kitty?”

The cat meowed and the Doctor made a disappointed noise. “I swear if you speak cat-”

“I speak  _everything_  River. How many times do we have to go over this? She says she doesn’t have a name. Ah look – her eyes are the same colour as yours, see?” He lifted the cat in his arms and stood. He walked toward her but River backed away. “Do you,” he paused covering the cat’s ears with his free hand and dropped his voice to a whisper, “not like cats?”

“I had a bad experience when I was in Leadworth. I’m not particularly fond of them, no.” She spoke practically and he looked at her with an unreadable expression for a moment.

“Well we can’t just  _leave_  her here. Kitty needs a home.” The cat purred and rubbed her head under his chin and River stared at the animal, her eyes narrowed. That was her job. Not that she rubbed her head there, but  _all_  rubbing of the Doctor should fall under her domain.

“At what point exactly did we become a menagerie, sweetie? Are we to run around the galaxy collecting strays now? Humans weren’t enough, we’ve moved on to animals?”

“Oi! The humans are  _friends_ , not strays – you’re getting as bad as the TARDIS. And one dog and one cat does not a menagerie make, dear. Now if we could have a few badgers-” his eyes lit up and she shook her head.

“No badgers.”

“But-”

“No.”

“They’re  _adorable_  River. All stripedy and they waddle and they’ve –”

“Do you fancy a divorce?” She arched a brow and he huffed in irritation, glaring at her.

“And explain to me how I’m supposed to go about that when we’ve gotten married in seventeen different galaxies, thirty four planets, five asteroids, two starships, one alternate timeline and Vegas?”

River shrugged, moving in closer to inspect the cat. She ran a tentative finger along her silky fur and the cat’s purring increased greatly. “And it’s  _my_  fault that you keep asking?”

“Yes, absolutely. Because you always look like…  _you_. And sometimes I stare at your hair for hours and it’s a bit entrancing. Also I tend to ask after  _you’ve_  done that thing with your-” He paused, flushing and glancing at the cat who was now snuggling into his arms, and down to Dog who was watching them intently, panting happily, his tail thumping against the floor. “Yes, well. You know what I mean.”

Dog barked happily and the Doctor looked down at him with a frown. “But she’s a cat.”

Dog barked again, ending on a slight growl and the Doctor hastily placed the cat on the floor, holding his hands up. “Okay, okay I never said I was  _judging_.” The cat curled up at Dog’s side, purring gently, as River looked at the Doctor, her face asking for an explanation. “He uh – Dog says she has to stay. Because he, you know, holds a great deal of-” Dog growled and the Doctor sighed. “Because he  _loves_ her.”

“Well you did say he needed a girlfriend.” River pointed out with a grin, moving down the hall, the Doctor and the two animals following behind her.

“Well yes but a  _dog_.” The Doctor waved his arms and followed her into their bedroom, where Dog and the cat promptly curled up together on his doggy bed.

“How unenlightened of you, Doctor.  You know,  _we’re_  not the same species.” She pointed out, pulling her shirt and jodhpurs off before wrapping a robe around herself. He sighed, crossing his arms and watching her move toward the loo. She pulled open the door, and walked into the large room, starting the shower.

“Well, yes, I suppose if you put it that way. Does that mean we can keep her? I’m going to call her Kitty Song.” She popped her head back around the doorframe with a glare.

“You are  _not_.”

“I am too. She has your eyes. And the dog is yours, so she’s mine – and I’m naming her Kitty Song. So there!  _And_  you named the dog Dogtor, River!”

“You love that name! You make him wear bowties and eat fish fingers, for heaven’s sake!” River stared at him incredulously. “I am  _not_  calling her Kitty Song.”

“No, course not, that’s rubbish why would you call her by both her names? We’ll call her Kitty.” He yanked his bowtie undone, tossing it on the bed and began unbuttoning his shirt. “There. That’s all decided then. Room in there for two?”

“So we have a dog named Dog, and a cat named Kitty? May we never have children, my love.” She laughed, moving back into the bathroom to check the temperature of the water. She removed her robe, and unhooked her bra, finally sliding her knickers off. Just about to step into the shower, she heard a shout from the room and ran back in to see her husband, bare chested, trousers hanging low and his braces dangling, holding several scraps of red fabric.

“Look what she  _did_!” He held out the handful of fabric and River stared at him before looking at the animals, who were still curled together, Kitty licking Dog’s face and Dog looking utterly content. She smiled and glanced back at the Doctor.

“Who did what?”

“Kitty! She… she  _eviscerated_  my last fez!” He looked so upset and River burst into laughter, clutching her stomach. “It is  _not_  funny, River!”

When she could finally speak, she nodded at the cat who seemed to nod in return. “I find I am changing my opinion on cats.” She laughed, moving forward to grasp him by the forearms and pull him toward her. “She can stay forever.”

“This is not acceptable, Kitty. Bad girl! Oh, she probably  _likes_  it when I scold her like that.” He huffed and River hauled him closer, until his body was pressed against hers. The Doctor started, dropping the fez remnants and looking down at River, finally noticing she had discarded the robe and the rest of her clothing.

“Well I know  _I_  certainly do. Now then, let’s see if we can’t make you forget all about that hat.” She laughed as his hands starting running along her skin, his attention fully on her now.

“What hat?”

She laughed, dragging him into the bathroom behind her, and Dog and Kitty nuzzled together, completely content.


	3. Chapter 3

“That’s it; they’re getting their own room. In a separate  _dimension_ , and don’t tell me that’s not possible River.”

“Sweetie, they’re just animals. You need to relax and-”

“ _Relax_?!” The Doctor whirled toward her, looking remarkably livid and a bit frightening – or she imagined he  _would_  look that way if he didn’t just so happen to be completely stark naked. He flung an arm toward the bed, where Dog and Kitty lay curled around each other.  “Every single time River! Every single time we – well, you  _know_  – just when everything is getting to the very very  _nice_  place, all of a sudden  _there they are_. If it’s not Dog trying to worm his way in on the action – well I mean I can hardly  _blame_  him for it – the action does happen to be very action-y and rather lovely,” he pauses, waving a hand in her general direction, which happened to be sitting on the settee, also naked. And extremely frustrated. “If it’s not  _him_ , it’s Kitty. It’s  _creepy_  – why does she have to stare?”

“Sweetie,” River started and the Doctor reached a hand up as if to adjust the bowtie that wasn’t even around his neck. On the bed Kitty was licking Dog’s face enthusiastically while Dog basked in the affection.

“I feel very  _judged_. And possibly found wanting – it does  _not_  do the best things to my – well, you know what I’m saying. Locked doors don’t work, why must our pets be so damn clever?”

“Three days ago you were showing both of them off to everyone within the vicinity and telling the Emperor of Xanvia that Kitty was the one to disable the time bomb at the core of their planet. I’ll have you know that fifty centuries from now, they worship cats to the point that they splice their DNA in an attempt to become more feline, Doctor.” She sighed, crossing her arms and glaring at her husband who paused, mid-pacing and grinned.

“ _Really_?”

“It’s not a  _good_  thing, Doctor,” River huffed. “My point is that you can’t want them to be clever when it suits you and unintelligent when it doesn’t. Can’t you just have a talk with them?”

“You don’t even believe me when I say I  _can_  talk to them River. Seriously? You want me to have a sit down and explain about what?  _Personal_  time?” He stared at River incredulously and she raised her brows in response.

“Oh, well then, if you’re  _admitting_  you don’t actually speak animal, I can come up with another solution,” she began with a smug grin and he pointed at her, glaring.

“I  _do_  speak animal. Well dog and cat at the very least, never tried it out on other animals. Oh maybe we should! I bet giraffes would have a rather lot of interesting views to share-”

“No, we are not going to go talk to giraffes. You’ll end up finding some poor abandoned baby giraffe, take it on board, slap a fez on it and I won’t be able to tell which is which,” she huffed and he glared at her indignantly.

“Between  _me_  and a giraffe? Really, River that is a bit much,” he moved over to the door, yanking a tweed robe off the hook and pulling it on while she frowned. “What?”

“You need to get dressed for this? I was enjoying the view, sweetie,” she purred and he put his hands on his hips, gaping at her.

“Well I can’t talk to them about this  _naked_ , River.”

“Why ever not?”

“Well because – because this is a  _serious_  discussion and – and – she  _judges_  me, River. That cat is far too much like you for my liking,” he huffed as he crossed the room to the settee.

“Oh sweetie, trust me, I’m never  _judging_  you. Well,” she amended and he crouched by the settee and laughed.

“Ha! See? Doppelgangers. But with  _fur_. And don’t think I don’t realize you two are constantly in cahoots – Kitty found my best bowler hat the other day and-”

“Those hats make your hair look  _ridiculous_  sweetie. I can’t help it if our cat has a keen fashion sense,” she shrugged and the Doctor rolled his eyes at her, before leaning up to press a kiss to her cheek. “Besides which, you let Dog chew on my favourite plasma blaster last week. I can always get another, but he could have  _hurt_  himself.”

“I disabled it first,” the Doctor mumbled and River glared at him. “Fine, fine, I won’t let him chew on your guns anymore. You keep her away from my hats, deal?”

“No deal,” River shook her head, laughing at his scowl. “Sorry honey but your hats are  _far_  too atrocious and you are over estimating my involvement. Kitty does what she wants,” River shrugged and the Doctor sighed gustily. “Do I get a robe?” she asked as he sat next to her on the settee, the fabric of his robe scratching along her skin gently.

“What?  _No_ , why in all the dimensions would we cover  _you_  up? Please, it’s bad enough I have to have this discussion, at the very least give me this!” he waved a hand over her skin as he pouted and she sighed, rolling her eyes and nodding. “Thanks, dear,” he leaned into her, kissing her soundly as she fought a grin.

“You’re  _impossible_ ,” she sighed and he grinned in response.

“You love me anyway,” he insisted and she brushed a hand against his cheek affectionately.

“Impossibly so, my love. Now go on, I’d like to finish what we started  _some_ time this century.”

The Doctor cleared his throat, sitting up and looking over at the bed. “Dog, Kitty, come  _here_.” Both animals lifted their heads and Dog jumped from the bed immediately, slinking over to where they sat, his head low and his tail between his legs. He looked so adorable, River had to actually tuck her hands under her thighs so she didn’t offer to comfort the poor thing. As much as she complained to the Doctor about Dog – oh she  _loved_  him so much. “Kitty,” the Doctor glared at the bed where Kitty lay curled, staring at them insolently. Dog barked sharply and if a cat could roll her eyes, River thought she would have as she stretched, taking her own time about leaping gracefully down from the bed and stalking over to Dog’s side. Once there, she sat proudly, glaring at them both.

“Excellent, thank you,” the Doctor spoke to both animals. “We need to have a little discussion about _personal boundaries_. Dog, now – I am sure that you greatly enjoy when you and Kitty get to spend time together. You like it when she licks you yes?” Dog barked happily and the Doctor sighed, “Fine,  _kisses_ you. You like it, was the point right?” Dog barked again and Kitty lifted a paw, paying little attention to the conversation as she licked at it gently.

“Right, so how would you feel if every time Kitty kisses you, I got in between you both and ruined everything?” Dog growled at that and the Doctor nodded in agreement. “I know. But see, when River and I are – well when we’re – the thing is, when we lock the door, it’s so we get our own kissing time. _Alone_.”

Dog tilted his head, grumbling for a moment before barking up at the Doctor, his tail thumping on the floor. “Well, yes but I don’t care  _how_  good it smells in here. Can’t you just come in  _after_?” Dog growled and grumbled, whinging slightly at the end and the Doctor grinned. “Yes, see – works for everyone doesn’t it? And  _trust_  me, honestly, River and I are much nicer when we have kissing time. There’s more fish fingers in it for both of you if we just adhere to this one little agreement.” Kitty looked up at that, and Dog barked happily, turning to the cat and bumping his head against hers, woofing gently.

“So, do we have an accord then?” The Doctor clapped his hands and Dog barked once. River thought it sounded remarkably like an agreement, and perhaps her husband’s insanity was rubbing off on her, but she swore she almost understood most of that. “Excellent, excellent! Now if you go to the third kitchen in the eighteenth junction, I believe there are some fish fingers out for you. I was saving them for a snack for later, but in the circumstances, you two can pop off and have a snack, and everyone is happy, yeah?”

Kitty meowed at that and the Doctor rolled his eyes. “Yes,  _every_  time.” The cat jumped up at that, purring and winding herself around their legs. Dog leapt to his feet as well, barking joyfully and the two of them scampered out of the bedroom in search of treats.

“Every time? They’ll get  _fat_  Doctor,” River scolded him and the Doctor growled, sounding remarkably like Dog as he turned toward her, his hands reaching forward, pulling her into him as he leaned over her, kissing her slowly and pinning her down with his upper body. She hummed, kissing him back and feeling heat reignite within her, spreading through her limbs quickly.

“We do enough running,” the Doctor breathed against her mouth as her hands quickly untied his robe, shoving the material open so she could stroke the skin along his ribs and hips with a soft moan as he bit at her neck.

“We do an awful lot of  _this_  too, sweetie,” River pointed out in a breathy tone and he grinned, kissing his way down her neck.

“There’s a planet that specializes in fried fish, did you know? We’ll stock up on low fat fish fingers.”

“They’ll mutiny,” River giggled as his hands traced along her skin, slipping lower and lower until she gasped, clutching at his shoulder. “Worry about it later?”

“My specialty,” the Doctor kissed her sternum before moving his head lower, his talented tongue flicking out eagerly, tasting her skin.

“Well,  _one_  of them,” River laughed. “How about you show me a few others?”

“At your service, wife.”

 


End file.
